HOUSE WREN. 
181 
lie opens and shuts this golden ornament with great adroitness, 
which produces a striking and elegant effect ; lores, marked 
with circular points of black ; below the eye, is a rounding 
spot of dull white ; from the upper mandible to the bottom of 
the ear-feathers runs a line of black, accompanied by another 
of white, from the lower mandible ; breast, light cream colour ; 
sides under the wings, and vent, the same ; wings, dusky, edged 
exteriorly with^yellow olive ; greater wing-coverts, tipt with 
white, immediately below which, a spot of black extends over 
several of the secondaries ; tail, pretty long, forked, dusky, 
exterior vanes broadly edged with yellow olive ; legs, brown, 
feet and claws, yellow ; bill, black, slender, straight, evidently 
of the Muscicapa form, the upper mandible being notched at 
the point, and furnished at the base with bristles, that reach 
half way to its point ; but what seems singular and peculiar to 
this little bird, the nostril on each side is covered by a single 
feather, that much resembles the antennae of some butterflies, 
and is half the length of the bill. Buffon has taken notice of 
the same in the European. Inside of the mouth, a reddish 
orange ; claws, extremely sharp, the hind one the longest. 
In the female, the tints and markings are nearly the same, only 
the crown or crest is pale yellow. These birds are numerous 
in Pennsylvania, in the month of October, frequenting bushes 
that overhang streams of water, alders, briers, and particularly 
apple trees, where they are eminently useful in destroying 
great numbers of insects, and are at that season extremely fat. 
HOUSE WREN — SYLVIA DOMESTICA Plate VIII. Fig. 3. 
Motacilla^domestica (Regulus rufus,) JBartram, 291. — P cole's Museum , No. 72S3. 
TROGLODYTES (ED ON. — Vieillot. 
Troglodytes oedon, JBonap. St/nop. p. 93, and note p. 439. — Northern Zool. ii. 
p. 316 The House Wren, Aud. pi. 83. Orn. Biog. i. 427. 
This well known and familiar bird arrives in Pennsylvania 
about the middle of April ; and, about the 8th or 10th of May, 
